Sohar port opens operations control centre; volume doubles

Muscat: Sohar port announced the official completion of terminal C at its Oman International Container Terminal (OICT), besides opening a new operations control centre (OCC) and a state-of-the-art remote control crane centre.
The new facility allows the remote operation of recently installed quayside cranes that have sufficient reach to load and unload 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ships, said a press release. As a taste of things to come, on Friday saw the first visit of a 13,000 TEU vessel to Sohar Port, the MVMSC Altair at 366 metres the largest container vessel ever to visit the Omani logistics hub.
Dr Ahmed Mohammed Salem Al Futaisi, minister of transport and communications and Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi, chairman of the board of Sohar Port and Freezone, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Planning, were present at the function.
The OICT is moving into a new era of automation in Sohar, in line with continued growth in container throughput that has more than doubled in just eighteen months. In addition to faster turnaround facilitated through automated loading and unloading systems, OICT now boasts an online truck appointment system.
The new communications software schedules container truck arrival times at the terminal through direct contact with the truck operators and drivers, reducing waiting times and minimising environmental impact by avoiding unnecessary fuel wastage.
Mega vessels
“OICT is handling more frequent direct calls from mega-vessels at Terminal C where it is capable of handling the latest class of 20,000 TEU containership. The construction of Terminal D will increase our annual handling capacity by four times to six million TEU and construction may start as early as 2018-19,” said Albert Pang, chief executive officer of OICT.
In addition to the new quayside cranes, OICT has invested heavily in new rubber-tyre gantry cranes (RTGCs) to further increase efficiency in the stack yards. Container Terminal B is now being fully reconstructed as Sohar Food Zone, a dedicated agro-berth with planned facilities for rice, grain and sugar processing. Planning work is also progressing on Terminal D, a massive new container terminal in Sohar that will boast a 1.2 kilometres long jetty once commissioned.
Sohar now handles over one million tonnes of cargo a week and more than 2,500 ships a year.
“It’s hard to imagine that we only saw our first ship here in Sohar a little over ten years ago. The growth in size and efficiency at OICT is phenomenal and we are proud to be able to partner with companies like Hutchison Port to operate our terminals. As we look around this amazing facility today, I am proud to be able to say to all our guests: ‘welcome to the new Gateway to the Gulf,” noted Andre Toet, chief executive officer of Sohar Port.